Alaska News Nightly: November 2, 2007

Vic Kohring‘s fate rests in the hands of the jury; The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea inches forward in the U.S. Senate, and the Izembek road gets a hearing in the nation’s capital. Those stories and more on tonight’s Alaska News Nightly, broadcast statewide on APRN stations.

Individual news stories are posted in the Alaska News category and you can subscribe to APRN’s news feeds via e-mail, podcast and RSS.

State tries to figure out recruitment and retention problems
Rosemarie Alexander, KTOO – Juneau
A government task force is putting the finishing touches on a study that is expected to show why the state of Alaska is having trouble retaining and recruiting employees.
Alaska Supreme Court rules against mandatory parental consent for abortions
David Shurtleff, APRN – Anchorage
The Alaska Supreme Court has ruled against a law which would have required girls sixteen years of age and younger to get parental consent before getting an abortion.
Court also strikes down official English-language intiative
Lori Townsend, APRN – Anchorage
The Alaska Supreme Court also ruled today to uphold a lower court decision that struck down a provision of the Official English Initiative.

President vetoes water bill
Joel Southern, APRN – Anchorage
Today President Bush vetoed a big national water projects bill that includes a slew of Alaska items.

Anchorage Fire Department brings home gold.
Len Anderson, KSKA – Anchorage
After winning a gold medal at the firefighter combat challenge national championships last month, the three man team from the Anchorage Fire Department leaves this evening for the World Championship competition.

Fairbanks food bank suffers Thanksgiving cut
Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks
The Fairbanks Community Food Bank is taking a major cut in state funding for its Thanksgiving program.

Rabid Wolf surfaces in Marshall
Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks
One of the wolves that killed dogs last week in the western Alaska Village of Marshall had rabies.

Survey examines Native-community attitudes
Lori Townsend, APRN – Anchorage
A recent Alaska Native opinion survey conducted by the First Alaskans institute was the first state wide effort to gauge the attitudes of Alaska Natives.
UAF looks to map its future
Ben Markus, KUAC – Fairbanks
Back in March the University of Alaska at Fairbanks formed the so-called “Vision Task Force 2017” to map the school’s future.